Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

S. F. VAN CHOATE. Breech-[loading Fire-Arm.

Patented Aug. 24, 1869.

)SEVM (YA/0036 Wviwas WM/ (8mm a imammy 2 Sheets Sheet 2.

S. F. VAN CHOATE.

Breech -Loading vFi re -Arm.

Patented Aug." 24, 1869.

17? v Mar 9f 75m 67mm Wain/asses b M fliZorne] I gawk-M exploding-trigger.

S. F. VAN CHOATE, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Lam Patent No. 94,047, messa es: 24, 1869-.

' IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LO ADING FIRE-ARMS The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making par Of e e- .To all to whomthese presents shall come:

Beit known that LS. F. VAN OnoA'rn, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have made an invention of certain new and useful Improvements in Breech Loading Fire-Arms;

. and. do hereby declare the following to be a full, clcar,..

and exact description thereof, due reference being had .to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and in which- Figures 1 and 2 are vertical and longitudinal sections, and 1 Figure'3, a veitical and transvcrsesectionof the working-parts of a fire-arm, in which myimprovements are incorporated,

Figiu'e 4, a vertical and longitudinal section of a small .portion of, the arm, exhibiting the firing-pin, as-

driveu forward to its extreme .limitby the action of Figure 5, a perspective represoutation of the'recessed and notchedrod, for determining the movements of the trigger andfii'e-piu, the same to be hereinafter explained.

Figure 6, a longitudinal section, and Figure7, a transverse section of a modified construction of the arnnwhich will be hereinafter duly referred to and explained.

The improvements in fire-arms, which constitute the subject-matter of this patent, have forthcir basis a class of arm, of which an instance is shown in Let- .ters Patent of the United States, numbered 89,902,.

and issued to me on the 11th day of May, A. D. 1869.

Although the production of the arm shown in Letteis Patent last mentioned, naturally,gave rise to my present improvements, such improvementsare not of necessity to be employe'din connection with, or to be dependent upon such patent, but possess individual and characteristic features, which may, in practice,be found valuable in their application to otherarms.

The primary object in making the experiments, whichhave terminated in the invention herein described, has been to secure almost absolute simplicity of parts, throwing away all superfluous details, and retaining only those necessary to secure perfect action of the arm, the result being, low'cost, extreme simplicity of manipulation, and non-liability of deraugemerit,

Having thus prefaced the description of my present invention, by stating its main object, I will now consider in whatrespect it differs from, and is preferable to other arms of its class, or, in fact, to any simple breech-loading arm, 'carrying a metallic-cased cartridge.

First, thesejmprovements consistin dispensing with the. plurality of parts which were employed in my former patent, as a means of exploding the fnlminate' of parts are not in firing-position.

A second feature in these improvements, consists in a peculiar and advantageous mode of conncctingthe actuating-handle and the locking-earn to the breechbolt, whereby the friction upon such handle, in describing the arc'of a circle, requisite in locking and unlocking such bolt, may be varied at pleasure, by the'turning' of a screw-nut, the arrangement of parts being such that the liability of the cam-portion to become either fixed to the bolt, or loosened upon it to an injurious extent, is avoided, tl1us obviating, in a very simple manner, the objections heretofore existing to the"cln-' ployment' of friction-bearings or connect-ions.

The drawings before alluded to as accompanying this specification, exhibit a portion of a fire-arm con taining my improvements, such drawings being limited to the breech-loading portions of the arm, as containing all that is considered essential to a good understanding of the invention.

In such drawings A denotes the barrel, and athc bore thereof, B being the frame or receiver, the breech-chamber of which is shown at b.

0 denotes a cylindrical bolt, which forms the movable breech, such playing longitudinally within the breech-chamber b, the bottom of which is semicircular or concavous, to receive such bolt.

The breech-bolt passcs entirely through the receiver- B, and is provided at .its rear extremity with a handle, D, for rotating it through the arc of a circle, the bolt, in practice, having a locking-cam aiiixed to it, to enter a corresponding recess madcwithin the receiver, and lock the bolt in position. I

'lhe'upper part of the breech-bolt is provided with a bar, E, properly sccur'cd to it, this bar extending beyond the' front end of the bolt, and being formed into a depending hook, c, for hooking upon the flange of the cartridge-shell.

'lhc breech-bolt is bored axially, as shown at d, to

receive an attenuated cylindrical firing-pin, a, such pin being provided at rear with a head, 1, to prevent displacement.

The above-described parts are portions of the arm shown in my former patent, which I havecmbodied in my present application.

In such patent, the rear end of the firiug-pin abutted against the front end of a rod, contained within the rear partof the bore of the breech-bolt, and which The locking-cam of the'arm,'sl1own in dotted lines in the drawings, is formed upon a short piece or block of metal, K, of :like size and shape with the1breechbolt, to the rear end of which it is secured by means of a cylindrical rod, 1, before mentioned, the head at v of such rod receiving and enclosing the head f of the firing-pin.

The red 1 extends through the cam-block K, to which it is secured against longitudinal displacement by a screw and nut, '0 1), and prevented from revolving therein by a square or polygonal shoulder, q, as shown in figs. 1 and 5 ofthe accompanying drawings.

It will be at once apparent,.that by tightening the nut 11, the head of the rod 1 will be drawntightly against the portion '5 of the breech-bolt, and, a. aconsequence, bind the cam-block thereto with sufficient friction to prevent rattling'of the latter, and to secure it firmly to the breech-bolt, of which it is thus forced to become a-pait.

A groove, 1', is made in the lower part of the head 'of the rod 7, and in real-of the head of the firing-pin, this grooye being of'such shape and disposition as to leave a free path for the trigger tostrike the firing-:

pin, when the breech-block is locked in firingposition, and to present a barrier between suclrpin and trigger, when the bolt is not secured in position.

The nature and operationof this groove are explained substantially in my former patent The trigger of the arm 'is'represented at t, in the accompanying drawings, as fulcrumcd within a slot, 11, made through the'under side of the receiver at its rear part, and opening into its breech-chamber,"the situation of .this groove, with respect to the breech-bolt, being such, that when the latter is at its extreme forward position, the firing-pin shall present its head immediately in fi'ontzofthe trigger.

The cartridge is exploded by simple, pressure of the finger upon the firing-pin.

It will be seen that the trigger is in direct contact with the head of the firing-pin, thusdispensing with any intermediate lock-mechanism,-the trigger performing the functions of a lock.

a in the drawings represents a short p st or stop, fixed to, and slightly rising above the bed of the breechchamber, and at the rear part thereof, this pin being placed in such locality that they cartridge-shell, on being withdrawn by the retrograde movement of the breech-bolt,.shall strike it, the effect of which is, first, to tilt the shell, and then to impel it from thebreech-' chamber, the stop being preferably located at the left of the centre of the blcech-chamber, in order to throw the shell to the right side of the arm.

The bottom of the breechbolt is grooved longit u dinally, as shown at b, to form a free passage to the stop a. A

A screw or stud is fixed to the f rward part of the breech-lmlt, the purpose of which is, by abutting against the rear upper part of the receiver, as shown at d in fig. 2 of the drawings, to limit the extent of movement of the bolt during its retraction.

It might be urged as an objection to the disposition of thefirc-pin last above explained, thatthc corrosion which might ensue in exceptional cases, would fix the pin within its recess, in the position in which it was left, after discharging the piece, and that upon pushing forward the breech-bolt, the point of the pin, which 'was left protruding, would strike and explode the fuhninate of the cartridge.

'In antieipatiomof; this objection, and to guard of insuring a retraction of the firing-pin within its recess, by one unlocking of the cam, which secures such breech-bolt in place, so that in opening the breech after firing, the pin will be forced back to its extreme limit, and held'ilrthis position until the breech is' again advanced and locked in position.

The plan which I have contemplated for effecting this last-mentioned result, is to prolong the head of the firing-pin, and that of the rod 1, which receives it, (the. trigger receiving and controlling groove u remain- .ing the same as at present,) and to affix to the cireum ,-ference of the head of the pin two studs, one-at its end of the forward section of the breech-bolt, and to disposed within a groove cut in the forward end of the head of the rod 1, and which is substantially in form of the studand groove being such, that-upon turning the cam-block, and consequently the rod 1, through the arc of a circle necessary to unlock 'the breech-bolt,

action of the trigger, or its equivalent.

accompanying drawings,.thc fonncrof which is a section of the breech-bolt and-firing-pin and adjuncts, and thelattcr two, perspective representations of the rod 4 preferably in axial aligmnent, the former .being placed at the extreme forward end of the 'head f, and the latthe rear end. c

.The advance stud slides easily in a slot, g, cut in the periphery of the rear end of thefi rward section of the breech-bolt, such slot and pin, as will be at once apparent, serving to prevent the tiring-pin from.:re-

longitudinal movements of it therein. The rear stud f extends int a groove, it, cut through the periphery of the tubular head'of the rod 1, such groove running at right angles to the bore of the rod, and having its outer b undary,j', inclined thereto, at an angle of thirty degrees 'or thereabout, the length of the groove being abouta quadrant of a circle, or in excess of this measure to the extent of the diameter of the stud p An opening, t, leads from the larger end of the slot hnto the end of the head of the rod 1, in order that the stud f may be entirelyintroduced into such slot.

When the locking-cam is turned up into the proper position to lock the breech-bolt against a discharge of the piece, the stud f lies within the largest area uf fig. Opt the drawings, ample roadway being thus provided, consequent. upon the widening of the slot, to

ploding the cartridge.

The turningof the cam-block through an arc of ninety degrees, after the firing-pin has been driven fbrward into the position shown in red lines infig. 9, pl'mluees a like 'sen'i'iq'otation of the head of the red I.

The cam-grade j, by the semi-rotation of the rod 7, impinges against the .stud f, and, as a necessary refig. 10 of the drawings, within the contracted portion against sucha: serious [resultrI have provided a'means forward end, being to slide in a slot made in the rear I prevent the fire-pin froin'rotating within the bolt, but allow it to slide freely therein, and the rear stud being,

like the groove at, before mentioned, the. arrangement theeam-grade of the groove shall impinge against the,

leaves a free space for it to bei driven forward by the.

' The reader, by referring to; figs. 8, 9,'and 1 0, of the and firing-pin, will see that the head f of the filing-pin is,'in this instance, considerablyprolonged,and is proyided, upon its circumference, with two slightly-pro-f j'ccting studs c"f, fixedpermanently to it, and placed tcr about midway between the two'ends, or hearingvvlviugwithin the breech-bolt, but allowing" of short the slot It, and against its rear boundary, as shown in allow of the necessary advance of the firing-pin in exsult, retracts the firing pin into the position shown in" of the slot h, which it about fills, the stud remaining in this position against the rear boundary of the slot,

' until the firing-pin, which carries it, is driven forward by the trigger, or its equivalent, the return of the locking-cam and breech-bolt into firing-position, asbefore observed, leaving a space in front of the stud, to permit ofits advance, it being understood that the angle of recession of the cam-grade is such as to increase the-length of the two extremes of the slot to an extent equal to the distance which is required for the advance of the firing-pin.

The forward stop 0 and the roadway g prevent rotation of the head of the firing-pin within its recess by the action of the earn-grade, which, but for a like or analogous device, would ensue.

I am aware that heretofore, in some arms in which an attenuated firing-pin is employed, a coiled spring has been adopted for retracting the pin, as a protection against corrosion, 850.. In many instances, however, the power of a spring is inadequate to retract the firing-pin, is itself liable to corrosion and failure, and is, at best, a defective agent.

The adoption of the cam-slot and the stop f, or its before explained.

equivalent, as last above described, forms a simple and positive mechanical means of retracting the firing-pin,

the leverage of the cam-grade j, exerted through the medium of the handle of the cam-block, supplying much more power than will be ever required.

Figs. 6 and 7, of the accompanying drawings, represent a modified as .well as simplifiedconstruction of i the breech and of the receiver of the arm.

In this instance, the bar carrying the cartridge-hook, which has been before described as an independent piece secured to the breech-bolt, is made homogeneous with the two portionsof such bolt, as shown at'k l, the cam-block being nnprovided with such bar.

Furthermore, the width of this integral bar is equal to the diameter of the breech-bolt, which thus becomes oblong in vertical section, as shown in fig. 7, instead of cylindrical, as before explained.

The walls of the receiver are prolonged, to correspond to the increased height of the breech-bolt, a re snlting advantage of which is, that less surface of the breech is exposed, and a less number of joints is accessible to the injurious action of dust, or dirt, orother extraneous matter.

A more finished appearance is also imparted to the arm by the adoption of this last-mentioned modification.

C la ims.

Having thus described the constituent parts of my present invention, as well as its operation and advantages, what I believe to be novel and original with myself, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

.1. The combination of a firing-pin and a trigger of a fire-arm, whereby the latter actnates the former.

directly without the aid of other lock-mechanism, for the purpose of exploding the cartridge by direct pressure rather than bythe ordinary system of percussion.

2. As a positive mechanical movement, the employ- I inent of the cam-grade of the rod 1, in combination with'the studs c f on the firing-pin e, for the purpose '3. The combination and arrangement of the cam-- block it and the rod Z, the latter being prevented from revolving within the former, and provided with means of varying-the friction or hold between it and the breech-bolt, for the purpose substantially as herein explained.

4.- An improved fire-arm, composed of a brecchbolt, provided with a fixed or unyielding cartridgeimmovable stop a, and a recoil cam-block, provided with a variable friction-device to regulate the degree of friction between the two, the whole being combined substantially in manner set forth.

, S. 1*. VAN Ol'lOAlEJ Witnesses:

Faun. Oun'ris, Enwnno GRIFFITH. 

